The Brownie Camera, Haley Nemeth and her fetching smile

Haley Nemeth with fetching smile

Thanks to Haley Nemeth, I now know what a Brownie camera is (or was). Produced by Eastman Kodak as an inexpensive family or personal camera, the Brownie became quite a successful product in terms of sales and also of introducing young people to the art of photography.

inspiration

   Such is the case with Haley Nemeth. A gift from her father when she was young, the Brownie camera set Haley off onto a “never look back” journey of self-learning, experimentation, and formal education in the craft of pose, lighting, staging, and clicking of a moment in time. Haley preserves that unique, once in an eternity moment by the personal investment of her well-acquired and tested skill in the art of image-capture.

   Focusing her career on commercial art, product photography, Haley plans for a profession of working for a corporation or firm with need for a person of excellent photographic skill.

   Also, she will seek such a corporation that values it image, its legacy, and social regard that it occupies its place in the commercial world attending to the highest of ethical standards.

   Haley believes that reaching toward the highest of ethical, technical, and professional standards is the most effective and meaningful way to achieve personal, social, and commercial goals.

   Haley is currently set to acquire her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography in May of 2020. From there, she is considering a Master of Fine Arts.

   She wishes to have an impressive and irresistible portfolio of work to present a potential employer.

   Yes, I can see how grounded she is in excellence and integrity,

    And I thought the Brownie had something to do with Girl Scouts.

Thank you Haley for your information, for your inspirational discussion of ethics in the commercial world, and for your exciting plans for your future.

Advent...expect a surprise!

Isaiah 9: 2 The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

    Surprise! My high school friend Randy Hunter, most usually with a camera in possession, took a photo of me while in high school. It shows me in a state of surprise. Also, perhaps, as is my custom yet today, I was raising my eyebrows, wide-eyed, so as to silently say “yes?’ in response to his attempt to get my attention.

    As Advent, the beginning of a new Christian year happens this coming Sunday, I hope to get your attention. Surprise…Christ is coming!

The word “advent” is a joining of two Latin words “venie”, which can be translated as “coming”, and “ad” which is “to”. Christ is coming to us.

   Whether we look at it from the perspective of a second coming or as a prelude to Christmas, we have something to look forward to.

    We have a surprise to which we may give our attention.

   Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by the depth of Christ’s love for us. For it reaches deeper than previously known.

Of course, let us attend to our shopping, decorating of trees, and wrapping of gifts.

But also, like kids in high school, let us also be surprised during this season of Advent. Let our spirits be taken to places we never anticipated.

Allow this season to amaze us, raise our eye-brows, and widen our eyes as we discover new depths of Christ’s love.

Clisbee Park, Original High School, Cassopolis Michigan

Original Cassopolis High School built 1878

I regularly maintain a journal of my days. I record ideas that occur to me, movies I have seen, discussions I have had with people. I do so because I know that over time even very valued situations and events become obscured by the overgrowth of more recent developments to which my memory must attend.

   Much is the case with public or social memory. Things change over time and if no one records, photographs existing roads, buildings, events, then they become paved over by more recent constructions.

    Such is the case with the original Cassopolis High School in the beautiful village of Cassopolis Michigan.

    My friend, Pam Montgomery, a life-long resident of the village, provided me with many details about the school, the Cass Medical Clinic that then later occupied the location, and the park that exists on that site today.

   Pam proudly stated that her mom graduated from the original school. Pam noted that the school bell, which occupied the tower on roof of school, had been moved to what is now the Cassopolis Ross Beatty High School. That bell prominently stands outside the main entrance of that school and acts as an anchor to the wonderful legacy of the Village of Cassopolis.

   Following demolition of the original high school, the site became the home of the Cass Medical Clinic. I asked if that clinic is where high school students seeking to be involved in cheerleading (as was Pam), sports or other activities acquired their required physical examinations. She confirmed that was the case.

    The site is now the Clisbee Park which also is the home of the Dan Lee Memorial Basketball Court.

   I value history and legacy. I find meaning in knowing the details of our histories.

    Cassopolis is loaded with much history. A drive through town, a walk along the sidewalks will provide you with sights of beautiful old architecture. Cassopolis, while maintaining historical identity, also pulls itself forward into a contemporary relevance with its attention to public education and an inviting sense of community.

Long live Cassopolis!!!

Bob Dylan, Three Mannequins, and Frayed Bell-bottoms

“I should have memorized all the lyrics before we came.” Quipped Sherry as we listened to Bob Dylan vocalize his songs Friday, November 1^st at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend.

   She said so because, unless one is particularly familiar with Bob Dylan’s lyrics, one will not be able to decipher them audibly.

   I am not being critical of Bob. I merely mean that, while he is indeed a poet worthy of Nobel Prize recognition, it is a stretch to affirm him as a singer. Furthermore, I do not mean to say that his vocalizations are without great value. Listening to his gravel-gargled voice reminded me that “all is well”, at least for the moment, as I am anchored to a 1960s cultural idea of song and performance. The concert made me feel as if I were still living the 1965 moment when I was ten and I heard his material performed by the Byrds, Johnny Cash, and Dylan himself (I declare no one, except me, can perform “Like A Rolling Stone” better). I often joke with my son that I perform Dylan’s material better than Bob. If ever you were to hear me sing, you would grasp the joke.

    I counted seventeen songs performed by the Nobel poet. And if historic significance is an attribute worthy of a ticket price to you, then you will be greatly satisfied. I now get to say, “Yes, I have been to a Bob Dylan concert!” My concert experience collection includes, Rolling Stones. Black Sabbath, Ringo Starr, MC5 (Detroit 1968), Melanie, John Denver, Eric Clapton, and so very many others. But this collection would have been incomplete with Dylan.

   I was hoping for the long-shot, “incidental” appearance of Joan Baez for a duet of “Blowing In the Wind”. No such appearance happened. But it would have been really groovy!

   During the concert three mannequins dressed in formal or party attire stood along the curtain like backstage guests on-looking friends in performance with whom they would party post show. They added a bit of mystique to the performance.

    Also adding mystique was the woman who wore 1960’s style frayed bell-bottom blue jeans. I commented on them and that she looked much too young to know the significance. She politely corrected me as if I were the younger of the two and that she was a truer participant of 1960’s culture.

I politely acquiesced.

   During the closing song of the concert I imagined Bob and his band, the three mannequins, and the woman in the bell-bottoms all having drinks at a local establishment and recalling their first visit to South Bend. Alas, much like my hope for an appearance of Joan Baez, I’m sure that scenario didn’t become reality either. But it would have been far-out!

My son, Eric, not knowing much about Dylan, as he is more of a Metallica/Black Sabbath sort, declared the concert to be “really good!”

Bob will never know it…but such an accolade from Eric carries an intensity of sincerity. “Really Good!” is his “A+”, 150%

Bob should feel proud!